Dinesh Karthik has played down all the hype surrounding Afghanistan’s spin attack ahead of the much-awaited one-off Test in Bengaluru.
The cricketing world is going gaga over Afghanistan’s spin troika – Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Many have tipped the trio to give the Indians a hard time in the upcoming game.
The speculations have further got fuelled after the spinners’ performance in the recently-concluded T20I series in which Afghanistan whitewashed Bangladesh 3-0. In fact, such has been the confidence in the Afghanistan camp that their skipper Asghar Stanikzai said his spinners are better than their Indian counterpart, even better than Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin, ranked No. 4 and five among the world’s Test bowlers.
However, Karthik is not at all impressed with all the hype and said Indian team’s experience would help it deal with the Afghanistan spinners.
“Look, you have to understand we have a lot of experience. Not only Test cricket but also domestic cricket, a lot of four-day matches. Clearly, all their spinners put together would not have played as many matches as say a Kuldeep Yadav would have. At the end of the day, experience has a lot of value. We saw that with CSK in IPL. Experience pays,”Karthik said.
Afghanistan are banking on Rashid and Mujeeb to compete against India with both spinners in prime form in recent times. Both have enough variations in their arsenal to trouble the finest of the batsmen, which was evident in IPL 2018.
Karthik said eventually they might become better in red-ball cricket too, but the experience is something that can’t be bought.
“I am sure in time they will be even better bowlers than when they start off. But the point is, the kind of improvement they have shown in white ball cricket has been phenomenal. There is no reason why they cannot do that in Test cricket. But I would definitely say our spinners have a lot of experience. I’m sure their players will also vouch for that. So, I wouldn’t harp too much on that statement,” Karthik said.
Meanwhile, the Indian team-management is not taking any chances against the spin-heavy Afghanistan team. On Tuesday, the batsmen practised extensively against the spinners.
Karthik concluded by praising Afghanistan’s remarkable rise in international cricket.
“It is one of the highlights for the ICC as well, to have a Test nation like Afghanistan. Their journey has been an inspiration for international cricket. Not many knew they play, but for them to come in through the qualifiers and secure a World Cup berth, do so well and compete with the other teams, I give them a lot of credit. Everyone knows it’s a tough place and the turmoil they are going through. In spite of that, they are able to inspire people with their performances,” he said.